Rural crime costing farmers in Gloucestershire
The cost of rural crime in Gloucestershire has increased by over 50% in the last year
Last updated 1st Aug 2024
In the last year rural crime has cost Gloucestershire £1.29m. Whilst the total cost of rural crime across UK rose above £50m.
Since 2021 NFU Mutual has invested over £1m in initiatives to tackle rural crime
The rural insurer has worked together with National Rural Crime Unit to catch criminals. The collaboration saw £3.1m worth of stolen vehicles and machinery seized last year.
NFU Mutual’s new report reveals that rural crime cost the UK an estimated £52.8m in 2023, up from £50.6m the previous year.
The rural insurance say the rise is partly due to increasing organised gangs, who are targeting high tech equipment, like Global Positioning System (GPS) units. Intelligence shows thieves frequently target several farms in one night before moving locations to steal these highly valuable kits.
The high-tech equipment, typically costing over £10,000 a unit, is used to guide tractors and combine harvesters to improve accuracy. Without it, farmers and agricultural contractors can face severe delays and disruption to harvesting and cultivating work.
Quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) were also top targets for rural thieves, with thefts up 9% to an estimated £3.2m in claim costs reported to NFU Mutual last year. The very nature of farmland makes these vehicles essential to farmers’ ability to get around their fields and effectively complete work, making a theft highly disruptive, especially during peak seasons.
However, there has been a fall in claims of agricultural vehicle thefts. The total cost of clai,s fell 9% to an estimated £10.7m in 2023.
Livestock theft remained high in 2023, at an estimated cost of £2.7m across the UK. Last year saw a spate of alarming incidents where farm animals were butchered in fields, an upsetting sight for those discovering the gruesome remains that the criminals had left behind.
Farm animals worth an estimated £2.4m were severely injured or killed in dog attacks across the UK in 2023, up nearly 30% compared to the previous year.
To help farmers and rural communities protect their livelihoods from the threat posed by organised crime, NFU Mutual has provided over £1m since 2021 in support for initiatives to tackle rural crime.
And in 2024, NFU Mutual has funded the UK’s first livestock theft officer at the NRCU to tackle this upsetting crime.